1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switch probe and a substrate inspection device and a substrate inspection system incorporating such a switch probe to inspect printed substrates.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, as an electric or electronic device has been improved in terms of reduced size and high performance, in a printed wiring substrate installed in the electric or electronic device, varieties of mounted components and wiring or lines, high density and narrow width of lines have been improved.
In order to effectively perform inspection of whether components are appropriately mounted on the printed wiring substrate, soldering is appropriately performed, there are defects such as wiring disconnection or short in wiring, or there are defects of components mounted on the substrate, a substrate inspection device for inspecting the printed wiring substrate by making a contact probe contact the board at a specific position thereof is designed (see Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2000-171512, 2006-138808, 2006-292715, 2008-224295, and 2008-226881)
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H11-23614 discloses that a contact probe having a rod-like contact pin having an end portion configured to be pressed onto a substrate to be inspected, a cylindrical contact pin receiver in which the contact pin is inserted, a spring provided between the contact pin and the contact pin receiver and configured to bias the end portion of the contact pin in a direction toward the substrate to be inspected, and a fixing device configured to fix the contact pin in a state where the contact pin is pressed down in a direction opposite to the direction toward the substrate.
In the substrate inspection device, so called switch probes as probes for detecting whether components are appropriately mounted on the substrate to be inspected at predetermined positions are provided at plural parts. The switch probe is a probe switched between an OFF state where the component is not mounted and an ON state where the component is mounted.
As one of terms for evaluating whether the substrate inspection device correctly operates, there is a test for detecting whether the plural switch probes are correctly connected to given input-output ports, respectively.
Conventionally, the substrate on which all components are mounted at the given positions is used and each component is removed one by one to check whether it is correctly detected or not that the component is not mounted.
In this case, it is necessary to remove all components from and to remount them on the substrate so that it is disadvantage that long time is required for the test. It is possible to cause failures in soldering, mounting positions, or the like, and degradation or destruction of a component to be mounted and adjacent components due to heat.